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Results of a population-based, case-control study suggest there may be an association between marijuana use and the occurrence of testicular germ cell tumors (TGCTs), researchers from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the University of Washington, Seattle, reported.

President Obama's 2010 budget proposal, with its $630 billion down payment on health care reform over the next decade, appears to contain significant good news for urologists, but never has it been more true: the devil is in the details.

A study presented at the 2006 AUA annual meeting linked abuse and interstitial cystitis, raised a storm of controversy, and prompted more studies that confirmed higher rates of abuse in women with IC or lower urinary tract symptoms than in controls. But have those studies answered the question?

For this article, we interviewed Sundie Hallen, a senior trainer at McGrath Communications Group (www.mcgrathcg.com), who provides 10 tips for giving an effective Internet presentation.

Some urology practices have become complacent about managed care contracts, assuming there's not much they can do about them. But if it's costing more money to see a patient than you are getting paid, it's time to renegotiate or consider unloading the payer.

Classifying market movements is easy in hindsight, but how do you know which type of market we are heading into before it happens? The answer is that no one can predict market movements with any consistency.

In reviewing the data for multiple urology practices, the PRS Urology Data Initiative has shown that correctly billing for urodynamics has provided an immediate increase in income without adding new patients.

While you're making plans for the 2009 AUA annual meeting (April 25-30), be sure to pencil in some time to savor the wealth of recreational, cultural, entertainment, and dining opportunities offered in this west coast (of Lake Michigan) city.

"I don't subscribe to the theory that reps who come to our office have a tremendous impact on what we do anyway."

Products and services from manufacturers who are exhibiting at the American Urological Association meeting in Chicago.

Drugs and devices in the pipeline

In laboratories and surgical suites, urologists at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, are breaking new ground in prostate cancer research as well as setting improved quality standards of care.

Experienced clinicians, a broad range of treatment options, extensive and well-funded research, a large and comprehensive patient database, and a strong emphasis on collaboration make the Mayo Clinic's department of urology a Clinical Center of Excellence for the treatment of prostate cancer.

The Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center Sidney Kimmel Center for Prostate and Urologic Cancers is striving to defeat metastatic prostate cancer through aggressive efforts in prevention, detection, diagnosis, research, and treatment.

Cleveland Clinic has a history of pioneering innovation and leading-edge research in urology. Prostate cancer is no exception.

The purpose of the Clinical Centers of Excellence series is to recognize those institutions that bring something extra to the specialty, whether through research, patient care, community outreach, or all of these areas.

For the first time, clinicians have solid evidence from a large, long-term study that kidney donors have survival rates similar to those of the general population, and that donors are at no higher risk for developing end-stage renal disease, hypertension, diabetes, and cancer than non-donors are.

In patients with bladder cancer, tumor characteristics at presentation are less favorable in women and African-Americans versus Caucasian men, according to a study by researchers at the University of Rochester, New York.

By losing just 8% of their total body weight, overweight and obese women can significantly reduce the frequency of urinary incontinence episodes, according to results of a multicenter trial.

Using a relatively novel approach to identify microalterations differentiating benign prostatic disease from clinically localized prostate cancer and its progression to metastatic disease, researchers at the University of Michigan have identified a series of metabolites that they believe hold promise for use as biomarkers of tumor aggressiveness and invasiveness.

Focal therapy for prostate cancer has been surrounded by controversy due to the multifocal nature of the disease. Emerging evidence for a biologically dominant or index tumor, however, has the potential to shift the paradigm to focal therapy in carefully selected patients, according to experts speaking at the Medical Innovation Summit at Cleveland Clinic.

A visit to this third-largest U.S. city puts you at the heart of a gastronomic paradise.

National Cancer Institute Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) in Prostate Cancer

Clinical Centers of Excellence - Prostate Cancer: Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center by the numbers